On The Line
by OneManOneBand
Summary: Ruby is new to the world of racing, but with her mother's skill, and her family's success, she has to be destined for greatness. And it will take someone great to beat the raining champs. RWBY Sports Car Championship AU.
1. Chapter 1

RWBY – On the Line

Chapter 1 – Prologue

Summer grinned as she flew down the front stretch at The Circuit of Vale, leading her class at the two hour thirty minute mark. A bright blue Prototype class car flew past her on the left, the car belonging to her husband, Taiyang Xiao Long, as he lead his class in putting the slightly slower GT Sports class yet another lap down. Not that it really mattered. The Remnant International Sports Car Racing Organization (RISCRO) ran two different classes of cars in one race, and scored each class separately. Summer chuckled as she braked for the first turn, a sharp left-hander after a short uphill sprint. Being almost eighty points ahead of second place in the GT Sports class, these last two races were just a formality. She could have not run this race and could sit out the season finale at Patch Circuit and still win the championship. But what fun would that be?

The real fight was currently in the Prototype class anyway, between the two points leaders Taiyang and his brother-in-law Qrow Branwen. Speaking of, a black Prototype flashed its lights in Summer's mirror and she pulled out of the preferred line into turn two, and allowed Qrow to pass on her on the right to chase down Tai; frowning again at the breaks as she moved through the esses that made up turns three through nine, with a longer right-hander in the middle for turn six. The brakes on her Taijitu Sports car had been acting weird for more than an hour now, but with only ten minutes left in the race, she pushed the problem to the side, electing to take a less aggressive attack. She was about thirty six seconds ahead of the rest of the GT field and there was no sense in destroying her car with only a handful of laps left.

She braked, frowning again, as he went through the left hand hairpin turn eleven and onto the back stretch, one of the longest straightaways on the schedule. Three more Prototypes passed her on the left as turn twelve was one of the best passing spots on the track. She entered the braking zone for the sharp left-hander and stepped on the brake – only to have the petal go to the floor. Silver eyes widened as Summer hit the turn at over hundred and twenty miles an hour, flew off the racing surface and into the sand sideways where the tires caught, flipping the car violently into the air before stopping dead in the Armco and catch fence.

The yellow flag was displayed and with only six minutes left in the race, Taiyang would be declared the winner as Qrow was unable to catch his teammate that lap. Tai, unable to see who had crashed due to the car being upside down in the Armco, celebrated for the last few laps of the race under the full course caution and all the way into the pits after the checkered was shown under the yellow, until a crew member told him it was his wife who had crashed and was on her way to the hospital right now. Immediately, he left the track to get to the hospital, skipping out on the podium and award ceremony. The ceremony was muted, and nobody celebrated as news reached the track that Summer Rose had passed away from her injuries, mostly from a broken neck from stopping abruptly in the Armco.

Next week had a similar ceremony, with Taiyang gazing at the GT points championship podium, where the first place spot was left empty, its champion not there to claim the prize.

* * *

(Present Day)

Ruby was excited. Her sister, Yang Xiao Long, had already run this race, and even placed third last year. This year, Ruby would join her in driving the short race at Patch Raceway, a small and relatively quiet race track and drag strip on the small island the two sisters called home. At least, quiet compared to the other circuit on Patch, Road Patch Circuit. The annual race was a multi class race, with to different classes of privately entered cars competing for the prize. Yang would be in the 'A' class with her current model Tijitu and sitting on pole. Ruby was sitting seventh on the grid, and in a classic model Tijitu that barley made the minimum requirements for the 'C' class race.

"Relax, Ruby! You'll do fine." Cheered Yang as she walked up to her sister, who was clearly not thinking she would be fine. "It's only your first race. Don't worry about winning. Hell, I didn't even finish my first race. You just have to relax, getting worked up right before the race won't do you any good."

"That's easy for you to say!" Ruby yelled. "You're sitting on pole with a great car! All I have is this old thing. And I spent more time on the paint job than I did on the engine!"

Yang took a moment to admire her sister's car. While the new models from Tijitu looked sleek, they couldn't compare with the classic 'Dust Ray' Tijitus. And Ruby had painted the car silver, after her mother's signature color and Summer's symbol on the driver's side door. "It looks amazing. And mom would be proud to see you driving her colors."

Ruby smiled a bit "You think so?"

"I know so." Yang smiled. "Now let's go out there and make this a family party in victory lane!"

It wasn't long before the 'A' class cars lined up on the starting grid. Ruby watched from her car in the 'C' class grid sitting back on the drag strip that was used for the front stretch next to pit lane. The lights on the starter's stand next to the line flashed red, then green as the twelve 'A' class cars shot away from the grid. Immediately, the cars around her started up and Ruby put her car in gear as the 'C' class cars moved up to the grid for their start. Stopping at the seventh place spot on the grid in the outside lane, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, attempting to calm her nervousness. When she opened her eyes, something clicked and Ruby finally felt ready to drive her first race.

The lights flashed red, than in an instant turned green and Ruby stepped on the gas too aggressively and spun her tires on the start, dropping her back to ninth. It was just as well, at the first turn the car running eighth wheel hopped the inside kerb and slid to the outside of the corner and into the grass, right where Ruby would have been.

Ruby sped down the short straight after one, and into turn two, a long sweeping left-hander that brought the field around the end of the drag strip. She followed the car in front of her down a small hill into three a, a sharp right hand one-eighty, immediately into three b, a sharp left hand one-eighty and onto the back stretch, that wasn't really all of that straight. After the back stretch, came a shallow left-right bend for turn four and a sharper left-right for turn five that lead right into turn six, a tight left-hander. After a short stretch came turn seven which was also the turn off at the end of the drag strip. Turn Seven lead into turn eight, a left hand one-eighty and right into the right handed nine, which put the track parallel to the drag strip just a few feet away. Turn ten moved the track back onto the strip and with that lap, Ruby finished her first lap in race conditions.

Her confidence boosted, Ruby slid to the inside of the car she had been following to pass in turn one. The other driver didn't even try to block, just let her take seventh. She caught up to sixth in turn two and rode right behind him through the threes. On exit to three b, he spun his tires, and Ruby went to the inside and passed him through four. She finished the lap chasing fifth, catching him on the front stretch. She faked to the right in turn one and he bought, sliding to block and Ruby went left, taking the inside line through two, passing him before they were half way around. On the lap after, she caught fourth, but couldn't find an opining to pass. Two laps later, the 'A' class cars came driving through, with a familiar bright yellow Tijitu leading the pack. Yang passed Ruby on the inside of turn seven, and the 'C' class car in fourth took the outside line into eight to let Yang pass, and Ruby just followed her sister through the inside before being passed by the class 'A' second place.

Three laps later, she had caught third coming through nine onto the front stretch. Ruby locked onto the car and began setting up a pass in turn two when a flicker of motion caught her attention. The white flag was being waved from the flag stand. _Is it really lap ten already?_ She thought as they thundered across the line. The other driver took a defensive line into two, but Ruby drove around the outside attempting to out brake the other driver. They came out of the turn side-by-side, but Ruby had the preferred line into three a, but she spun her tires on exit to three b and the other driver got right by her again. Ruby growled at the mistake, and kept her car right on the other's bumper in an attempt to pressure the driver into making a mistake. He did make one, the dame one she just made and spun his tires on exit from six trying to stay ahead. Ruby pounced and passed him on the inside and kept a defensive line through the rest of the track, yelling in victory as she crossed the line in third.

Ruby was cheering for the whole cool down lap and had a huge grin as she pulled into the pits. She parked her car next to her sister's, who was already out of her car and taking off her helmet. Ruby undid her belts and climbed out of the car yelling "Yang! I did it! I made the podium!"

Yang smiled, "I know, the leaderboard is right there." She said as she pointed out the board next to the pits. "That's really impressive for your first race."

"I knew you had it in you, squirt!" Came a rough voice from behind her. Ruby spun around to see her uncle, standing with a grin on his face.

"Uncle Qrow! I did it! I finished the race!" She yelled as she danced around in excitement.

Qrow snorted. "Yep. You certainly take after your mother. Your sister is a daddy's girl. He crashed out on his first race too, while Summer passed half the field to take the last spot on the podium. The very spot you just won." He said as Ruby grinned up at him. "Now go to the podium. There's a ceremony that needs you to start."

The sisters grinned and ran off to the winner's circle as Qrow watched. He turned to a man walking up with gray hair and a cane. "That wasn't bad for her first outing."

"Wasn't bad?" The man replied. "If I didn't know better I'd say that she had been racing for the last five years. The way she set up the passes, and how she could assess the situation and find the best way to get around someone is a rare skill, especially for it to be natural talent. I was already going to offer to your oldest niece, but I think I have to offer to both now."

Qrow sighed. "You know Tai won't like that. He only tolerated them racing one a year her because he thought they would not be found here. That they would stay here for their whole career without moving into the faster cars, and the danger."

The man sighed as well. "Will he let them?"

"He couldn't stop them if he tried. This is what their passionate about. They want to do this more than anything in the world."

"Then I'm going to ask." The man stated, "Will you still be lead engineer?"

"Of course." Qrow snorted. "Then I can guarantee that their cars won't break."

The man nodded. "It will be good to have you back, Qrow." He said as he walked off.

* * *

"Gah! I almost had it! That second place girl with the pink hair, who was following me for the whole race gave me the 'bump and run' in turn eight on the last lap! The last lap! I was SO CLOSE!" Yang yelled. She had been yelling ever since they left the award ceremony. As Ruby walked with her sister to their uncle's truck where he was loading their cars onto a flat trailer, a voice called out,

"Win or lose, it often happens in the last lap."

Ruby and Yang spun around to see a man with a cane leaning up against a nondescript car.

"My mom used to say that." Ruby muttered.

"And I herd it a lot." The man said. "Often aimed at your father."

Yang spoke up, "You're Ozpin, aren't you? Uncle Qrow talks about you a lot."

The man nodded. "I am."

Ruby gasped. "You're the owner of Beacon Motorsports!"

"I do," He confermed. "I came out here to do a final assessment on Yang, only to find a silver car, with a very familiar symbol on the door run circles around the lower class competition." The two sisters exchanged a surprised look. "As it turns out, I have two spots open right now, one in the Prototype class and one in the GT Sports class that need to be filled before the start of the season. Would you like to race with the team your parents all raced on?"

The sisters stood in shock, unable to fully comprehend what Ozpin just said.

Yang finally spoke up, "Like, race for the RISCRO championship?"

Ozpin nodded. "Yes. The season starts in a few months, so you'll have some time to get used to your respective cars, but the twenty four hours of Mistral is coming up fast. And the Schnee machines still look faster than ever. I'm going to need the best team of drivers to beat them."

The sisters shared one final look before Yang said, "If Ruby is in, than I'm game."

Ruby mumbled "Are you sure I'm good enough? That's a big step for me to take, and I'm really young."

Oz nodded. "It would be unusual. But not unheard of. And if you have half of the natural talent Summer had, you will fit right in. And if today is to judge off of, you have every bit of raw talent she did."

Ruby nodded. "Then I'm in too."

Ozpin nodded. "Excellent. We'll meet in about a month on a track on the mainland to have a 'test day', so you can meet the rest of the team and start getting used to the cars. I look forward to seeing you then." He said as he climbed into his car. "And before I forget, congrats on your race today. You two are so much like your parents."

He drove off as Yang squealed with glee "We're going to be professional drivers!" and ran to tell their uncle. But Ruby just stood there, left with a similar feeling.

She was out of the car.

And she was nervous again.

* * *

 **So, I'm addicted to the IMSA Whethertech championship, and so I figured why not write a story about a season of it? This story will be loosely based off of the aforementioned racing series (If you haven't seen a race go check it out, this season is all on youtube) and I will be using the rules as well as the schedule. As you probably could guess, The Circuit of Vale is The Circuit of the Americas and Road Patch is Road Atlanta. Patch Raceway is based off of Pacific Raceway in Washington. The 24 hours of Mistral is the Rolex 24 at Daytona.**

 **If something in the real world inspired the events in this story I will do my best to point them out in the A/Ns (Probably the crashes and stuff) as well as the tracks I use. Enjoy! -OMOB**


	2. The Team

RWBY – On the Line

Chapter 2 – The Team

Qrow grinned as his nieces looked at the track in the wine country outside of Vale in awe.

"The grandstands are huge!" marveled Yang. "They must fit several thousand people!"

"Well, the track is in the local stock car circuit, as well as an open wheel series too." Qrow said. "Ozpin knows the owner so we've been using Monoma Valley Raceway for testing since I was driving."

"This is so cool." Muttered Ruby as she looked down the drag strip that ran from one end of the track to the other. "What's with every race track we go to having drag strips built in?"

Qrow snorted. "Some people like watching drag races. Others like watching cars go in circles. But everyone knows that road course racing is the most enjoyable to watch. Come on, the garage is this way." He said as he walked off. "You're going to be meeting the other two drivers on the team today, and probably the four drivers for team Juniper GP as well since Oz and Glinda get along so well."

Ruby shuffled her feet as she muttered, "How will this work? Like, what are we going to be doing? What am I expected to do?"

Qrow snorted, "You are only expected to try your best. This is really just a fancy practice session so you can get used to the cars. Oz and the head technicians will be watching to see what pointers they can give you and help guide you in setting up your car for racing."

"And show off how good you are!" Butted in Yang as they approached the garage. "I herd that the Schnee cars are predicted to be the fastest again this year. I want to prove that wrong."

"With that attitude, we'll beat them for sure." Came a voice from within the garage. Out of the door came Ozpin, drinking from a mug. "Your cars are almost ready, and you two are the first drivers here. You might just get some quality alone time with the track."

"Go suit up." Qrow said. "The cars will be ready when you are."

* * *

Ruby and Yang walked out of the changing rooms near the garage, both dressed in the fire resistant racing suits, red for Ruby and yellow for Yang. They walked into the garage and gasped ant the set of cars waiting for them. The one in front was bright yellow, low to the ground, and had a huge wing on the back. It barley came up to Qrow's chest, as he was standing next to it looking it over. The car right next to it closely resembled Yang's racing Tijitu with a bigger wing on the deck, except it was silver with red highlights. Qrow looked up and waved the two over.

"Go ahead. Climb in. These will be your 'offices' for the next little while, so I suggest getting used to them."

Yang immediately pulled her helmet on and began squeezing in through the tiny door. Ruby walked around her car, attempting to get a feel for where the car's corners were before getting in. A net on her right blocked access to the passenger's seat, while the console sat between the netting and the driver's seat. Ruby played with the safety belts for a while before she was happy with how snugly they held her in the seat. She was looking around her 'office' getting a feel for where everything was when Yang fired up her motor. The garage was suddenly filled with the high-pitched whine of her engine, as she slowly pulled out of the garage toward pit lane. Qrow walked over to Ruby's door after watching Yang's car drive down the service road to the track.

"Comfortable?"

Ruby squirmed in her seat. "A little nervous."

Qrow snorted. "Relax. Oz and the team aren't looking for record setting times, this is really just for you to get used to the car. Pay attention to how it handles, what it feels like to wear the tires down, and how it drives in general. The feel will probably be different from what you're used to, so take this time to make it comfortable to spend a few hours in."

"But what if I crash?" Muttered Ruby.

Qrow just laughed. "You should ask your father about the first time in a Prototype. He knocked the wing off in practice and in the next turn, he tried to go right without any down force. Flew straight into the wall and totaled the car in the third lap he ever drove. He went on to win three championship titles and even more races. Don't worry about how it might go wrong, and instead enjoy the drive."

He closed the door and nodded to the engineer to fire her engine up. Seconds later, the car came to life and Ruby put it in gear, taking it out onto the pit lane. Ruby steeled herself, she was going to put down a respectable lap time even if it took her all day to warm up to the car.

Pulling out of the pits, Ruby gunned it up the hill around the left hand turn one and into the sharper right hand turn two as she brought the car up to speed. Turn three was a left-right S bend that crested the highest point on the track before beginning the descent into the sharp right hand turn four. A short straight proceeded turn five, a long left hand carousel that led onto the drag strip before leaving again with a slight left twist off the strip. From there was a short straight to turn seven, a hairpin with two apexes that began the back half of the track. The shallow left-right esses lead into turn eight, a sharper left-right esses and into nine, a long sweeping left hand turn around the start of the drag strip. Turn ten set up for the best passing spot on the track, the turn eleven hairpin that brought Ruby onto the dog-legged front stretch with turn twelve just before the start-finish line to begin her first timed lap.

The first handful of laps Ruby ran were slow, as she was using them to learn about her car and how it handled on the track. Five laps in, Yang went flying past on the front stretch already up to speed and putting her car through its paces. Over the next hour Ruby would slowly pick up speed, knocking a second or two off her lap time each time by as she began getting used to the car and the much faster speed that came with it and seeing the progress on the time boards the crew was holding up at the start line.

Yang had gone past Ruby several times during the session, so when she glimpsed a car in her mirror on the stretch before turn eleven, Ruby gave her the inside line. Except the Prototype that went by wasn't yellow – it was all white and drove with more precision than Ruby had seen out of her sister. As she came around the line again, her suspicions were confirmed as there were now four time boards on the pit wall, indication that the sisters' teammates were now out on the track. On her next time around, Yang's yellow Prototype was sitting in a pit stall while some crew members worked on it. Ruby's time board read 'pit this lap' as she flew by the start line.

Pulling off the gas after turn ten, Ruby slid into the pits and slowed down to a controlled speed as she drove around to where eight pit stalls were set up. Seeing the crew member with her time board standing out in the lane pointing to a pit stall, Ruby pulled in right behind her sister at an awkwardly slow pace, having not wanted to slam into the back of Yang's car if she overshot. The crew jumped the wall and began to work on changing the tires and filling the car up with fuel. Ruby could see Qrow talking with her sister in their pit box, the crew having finished the work on her car. Qrow stepped back as Yang sped out of her box and began making her way back to the track. As her uncle was walking down to her car, Ruby spotted an all-black GT Sports class car go racing down the front stretch with the black time board being displayed for the driver, already less than a second behind Ruby's fastest lap.

The door opened as the crew lowered the air-jacks to put Ruby's car back on all four wheels, and Qrow stuck his head into the car. "So how's it handling?"

Ruby shook her head, "It's really fast. And grips a lot more than I thought it would. I don't think I'm really used to it yet but I'm starting to put down some fast times. Is there a particular time I should try to break?"

Qrow shrugged. "Not really." He pulled up a clipboard with some timetables on it. "Ozpin seemed to think it would be amusing to put some old times on this table. Your aunt's, my sister's, average time on this track is one minute thirty four seconds, but that's over three years of annual testing at this track. Three years to get used to it, to improve her skills. You're running a one forty eight fastest time. That's good enough for me, especially for your first hour in the car. We'll see how it holds up when Juniper GP takes to the track in a few minutes."

"How is Yang doing?" Ruby asked.

"Your sister," Qrow sighed, "Is pushing the limits of her car. She wants to see how far it can go before it slides off the line. She spun it in turn seven the lap before we called her in. I'm a little worried but she's a good driver, and Tai always drove like a madman. She is, without a doubt, a Xiao Long."

He then pulled his head out to watch a bright red Prototype with gold highlights drive past, followed shortly by a green Prototype with pink highlights. Qrow leaned back in, "Well that looks like the Prototypes for Juniper. The GTs shouldn't be far off. I want you go out right after them and get a feel for the car in traffic. From the rumors, one of the GT drivers is decent but the other isn't very good, so keep an eye out. You don't need to pass, but it would be good practice if you think you're ready." And with that he stepped out and closed the door. Ruby didn't have to wait long before a white and yellow GT came down the pits followed by a white and pink GT.

Ruby gunned it out of the pits, being mindful of the fresh, cold tires on her car as she kept a reasonable distance from the white and pink car ahead. The next two laps were spent watching the car in front and bringing her tires back up to temperature. On the third lap, the white and pink car passed the white and yellow car in turn seven when the yellow one slid wide. It quickly became obvious that the yellow GT had been holding up the pink one, because it took off and quickly began pulling away. Ruby caught up to it as they went through the backside esses. She slid her nose out after ten for the inside line into eleven, but thought better of it as she fell back in line with the yellow GT. Her instinct proved good, as the driver stepped on the gas too early and slid wide on the exit. Ruby jumped on the opening and passed the car and was clear by twelve.

Over the next four laps, Ruby began reeling in the pink GT, a second or so every lap. As she finally caught it through the turn five carousel, two Prototypes showed up in her mirror. The white one was leading Yang's yellow one which surprised Ruby; Yang was like a race horse – She hates being lead in a race. The pink GT took a defensive line into seven preventing Ruby from setting up a pass, so she followed on the car's bumper through the esses. Coming out of turn ten, Ruby almost pulled to the inside to pass before she remembered that there were two faster cars right behind her and held her line. Yang had taken an aggressive line through ten and came out on the inside of the white Prototype and passed all three cars on the inside to turn eleven, followed almost immediately by the white Prototype. Ruby grinned at her sister's move; she had used the slower traffic to get around her teammate.

On the next lap, Ruby would pass the pink GT in turn eleven and passed the start line to see her board, along with everyone else's saying to pit. One lap later and she was driving down pit lane and into her stall, before coming to a stop behind her sister's car and in front of the black GT. Yang was already climbing out so Ruby shut off her car and began undoing her belts. As she got the last buckle undone Yang opened her door and helped Ruby out of the car. Ruby pealed the helmet off and set it on the roof of her car before stretching out her slightly cramped muscles while her sister played with her long blonde hair, which never sat right after spending time tucked into her helmet. While Ozpin, Qrow, and a woman Ruby assumed was Glinda were talking, she took the time to examine the other drivers who were climbing out of their respective cars.

The driver of the white Prototype pulled off her helmet to reveal long white hair in a ponytail, which must have become off-centered while tucked into her helmet, and a pale face with blue eyes. She had a scar over the right one and looked somewhat annoyed. The driver of the black GT Sports car had yet to remove her helmet, but from the way her suit hugged her body she was definitely a woman as well.

Team Juniper were all walking down the pit lane together, the first with bright red hair that flowed down her back in a lose ponytail. Next to her, was a man in a green suit with long black hair that had a streak of pink in it. Skipping alongside him was a girl with short orange hair who seemed very happy. Trudging behind them was a boy with blonde hair and a white and yellow suit.

All of the drivers met on the lane and looked each other over. Yang spoke up first.

"Well, nice to meet you guys, I'm Yang and this," She said as she grabbed Ruby, "Is my little sister Ruby."

The red head spoke next. "Introductions all around then? I'm Pyrrha Nikos, Prototype driver."

"Wait," Ruby interjected. "Pyrrha Nikos, like the three time GT3 champion Pyrrha Nikos?"

"The same one." Replied Pyrrha.

The girl with orange hair jumped up, "Oh! I'm next! I'm Nora, GT Sports driver!" She practically yelled. "And this is Ren!" she continued to yell as she grabbed the guy with the pink highlights. "He drives a Prototype!"

The blonde boy leaned in, "The names Juane Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it!"

Yang snorted violently, quickly turning it into a coughing fit as Ruby elbowed her in the side.

The white haired girl nodded and said, "I'm Weiss Schnee, Prototype."

"Schnee?" Yang interjected. "Like Schnee Motorworks? Why aren't you driving for your family?"

Weiss snorted. "I refuse to win just because of who my father is. I will win on my own skill, not his money."

The group nodded, accepting the answer. Finally, Pyrrha looked over at the last driver, saying "And who are you?"

The girl in black, who had still not taken her helmet off, flicked her visor up to reveal amber eyes. "Blake Belladonna, GT Sports."

"You're welcome to take the helmet off, you don't need it now that practice is over." Said Ruby.

Blake sighed, "It takes a while to take the helmet off, and it often gets stuck in my hair. I would rather do it when I can see myself."

Yang nodded, "There's a few tricks when it comes to hair and helmets, I can show you a few if you would like."

Before Blake could respond, Oz, Qrow, and Glinda walked up to the group.

"I see that you all have become acquainted, good." Ozpin said. "We'll have dinner at a local diner and talk strategy for the upcoming season, as well as the schedule for practice on the first race in Mistral. Leave the cars, the crews will pack them up. I'll see you all at the diner."

With that, the group all split up, and the first team practice ended.

* * *

 **And there's the second chapter! A few things I want to address, first being the ages. Ruby is 19, with Yang being 21. All the other drivers are in their early to mid-20s. Also, I am aware that the IMSA Weathertech series has four classes, but due to a lack of characters, and having that many drivers would be a pain for me, I'm only rolling with two – Prototype and GT Sports (GT Le Mans) Also, there is only one driver for each car, with the exception of the one 24 hour race. (As opposed to a team of 2-5 drivers)**

 **Monoma Valley Raceway is Sonoma Raceway. And yes, I worked hard on that name. I used the full track, as opposed to the NASCAR track or the superbike track. I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so I wanted to get this chapter out before I left. –OMOB**

 **P.S. I would like some reviews, guys! Are you enjoying this story? Is it easy enough to follow the racing? Did I misspell something? Let me know!**


	3. The 24 Hours of Mistral - Practice

RWBY – On The Line

Chapter 3 – The 24 Hours of Mistral

The eight drivers all sat down at a table set up in the backroom of the diner with Ozpin and Glinda at the head while Qrow and the rest of the engineers sat at a table nearby for their meeting. Most of the other drivers had changed into casual clothes, though Blake kept a black beanie on over her head. Ozpin clasped his hands and said,

"Well, let's get things started, shall we? I first want to cover that this season with both of our teams" he gestured to Glinda and himself, "Are fairly new to professional racing, with only Blake and Pyrrha having any experience in series shown live or with any coverage at all. So before the first race we'll have all of you go through a media training course with Glinda because, as you might have heard, the reporters have little to no mercy when it comes to sensitive topics. Anything that gets them a good sound bite is what they're after. And with that out of the way, we also need to talk about the first race, the Twenty-four at Mistral. This race is the only one on the schedule that can't be run by a single driver. That being said, your teammate in the same class will be your partner in the car for the race. The two of you can decide between yourselves on which cars you would like to use for the weekend of the race."

Yang nodded, "So, is there any different rules that I should be aware of? Like, how hard can I race? Is trading paint ok, blocking and other not quite clean racing moves?"

Weiss groaned, "You don't even know the rules of the sport you're in. How the hell am I supposed to win a race with an imbecile as my co-driver?"

"Hey, cut me some slack ice queen." Yang snapped back. "I've loosely followed mutable different auto racing series and been more focused on the rules of the races I was personally in than any other series' rules."

"Easy, both of you." Ozpin said calmly. "Yang has plenty of time to look over the rule book before the first race. As for the blocking, taking a defensive line is fine, but changing lanes in reaction to the car behind you will get you black flagged."

Qrow yelled from the other table with the mechanics, "And bumping the cars in front of you out of the way will impact your aero, making you slower by a more significant amount than you would think."

Weiss snorted, "This sport requires finesse, not brute force."

Yang flexed her bicep, "Well the Schnee team has plenty of brute force. I would rather play with fire and fight them with their own game."

"Yang…" Groaned Ruby. "You're a pyromaniac, you're always playing with fire!"

Yang sighed, "Point. But you know what I meant."

"Yes," nodded Ozpin. "But while Schnee Racing has a strong team and good cars, we have good drivers too. And our most recent deal with Tijitu to use their motors in the prototypes and the T7.R for the GT Sports cars. We'll hold our own, at the very least. And we'll see how we hold up to the Schnee cars at Mistral next weekend. We have Monoma Valley to ourselves for the next few days, so practice whenever you like. The cars leave for the Mistral International Speedway Thursday morning, first practice is Friday morning, second is that night, third is Saturday morning with Qualifying on Saturday late afternoon. The first race of the season is on Sunday. I suggest that you all begin preparations for it, twenty-four hours is a long time to be racing."

* * *

The team spent the next few days in and out of the cars, working out the details of the first race. Ruby and Blake both decided on using Ruby's car for the race while Pyrrha and Ren were using Pyrrha's. Juane agreed to use Nora's car (And let her drive most of the race) while Yang and Weiss had yet to agree on anything. It didn't matter too much yet, as the teams were taking all of the cars to Mistral even if only half of them were going to be used.

Ruby spent most of the trip down watching videos and reading articles of the track on her scroll. The track is a monster, three point eight-one mile track with two thirty-one degree banked turns. The National Stock Car Series ran its biggest race on the tri-oval part of the track, and most of the videos Ruby saw were from that series. There were a lot of three and four wide racing for whole laps, with mentions of 'the big one at Mistral' of ten plus car crashes. The RISCRO videos had more technical racing and less of the bunched up draft racing the Stock Cars were famous for, but would still be an intimidating track.

Ruby glanced up at Blake, who was sitting in a chair of the modified team bus reading a book. As hard as she tried, Ruby could not get more than five words at a time from her teammate. As far as Ruby could tell, she barely talked at all. _I wish she would talk more, I feel out of my depth here. I wonder how she is doing._

The team bus approached the massive track and everyone inside stopped what they were doing to stare out the windows at the outside of the grandstands. "Those stands are huge!" exclaimed Yang as she peered up at the press box above three concourses of seating.

Everyone else just nodded in agreement as the bus went through the tunnel to the infield, pulling out on the other side of the track and around to the garage area. The team piled out and the mechanics began to pull the cars out of the haulers and start on the pre-race setup for the next morning's practice, while the drivers began mentally preparing to drive the track. Twenty-four hours is a long time...

* * *

Ruby woke up early and climbed up to the top of the stands, above the press box where the spotter's stand was in order to get a good view of the track. She had several minutes to herself to think about the track and mentally prepare herself before two men walked up the stairs behind her. The first had gray hair and a handlebar mustache as well as a rather large potbelly. The second, in great contrast to the first, had green hair and was tall and thin, wearing spectacles across his nose.

"Aha!" declared the portly man. "You must be one of the rookies! Allow me to introduce ourselves. I am Peter Port, and this man here is Bartholomew Oobleck. The two of us are the main race announcers for Radio RISCRO."

Oobleck gestured to Ruby's racing suit which was only half on, with the arms tied around her waist. "I do not recognize the color scheme on your uniform, what team are you with miss…?"

"Ruby Rose, and I'm racing with Beacon."

Both men half started with surprise, Port saying "Rose… Now that is a name I haven't heard in almost fifteen years. I'm guessing that you're the one driving that remarkable silver car down there."

"Hmm," Agreed Oobleck. "Your family was always close with Ozpin, and he did say he had found some old friends again. You will definitely shake things up around here. Are you fitting in alright?"

Ruby kicked the ground and mumbled, "I don't know. It's all kind of overwhelming."

"Ha!" Port laughed. "I bet! Starting a professional racing career at your age is highly unusual. Oz must have seen great talent to pick you up. Here," He pulled out a pair of binoculars and offered them to Ruby, "Allow me to show you the teams that look strong this year. We've got a lot this year, it's going to be an exciting year!"

"First up, as you can guess, is Schnee Racing with Winter as the three time reigning Prototype champion and Penny Polendina as the GT champion. Very strong team, if they're not in front of you they'll be right on your back bumper. Also looking strong is Queen's Motorsports. While last year they had some teamwork issues at the start of the season that took them out of the running for the championship, by the end of the season they had gotten their act together and won a race in the GT class."

"Look out for Solar Team Racing as well," Chimed in Oobleck. "Sun Wokong and Neptune Vasilias have strong cars this year, they were struggling last season to keep up. Now they might just run away with their new cars and their new GT team members Sage and Scarlet have a strong resume in racing as well."

"Since you're with Oz, you probably already know GT3 champion Pyrrha Nikos is driving for Juniper GP." Said Port as he scratched his chin. "She'll be strong as well."

"It sounds like a full field." Muttered Ruby. "And this track is kind of intimidating."

"True." Oobleck stated. "The large banking does have a tendency to unnerve the drivers on their first race. It shouldn't be a problem. The only thing to look out for is if you begin to spin on the large turns, don't try to correct it. Just lock it down and spin out. If you try to correct your spin you have a very high chance to hit the wall head on. If you have half the skill your family all had, which I don't doubt, you will have no problem. It's your first professional race. You can't win them all, but I certainly hope that you try. Now I suggest you begin your trek down to the pits. Practice starts in an hour and it may take you a bit to get down there."

Ruby looked at her scroll. "Oh yeah! Thanks for the tips!" She called out as she ran for the stairs down from the spotter's nest. Twenty five minutes later Ruby ran into the Beacon garage to find Yang and Weiss in the middle of a shouting match.

"I can't fit comfortably in your car! You're too short to allow me to sit right!" Yang yelled at Weiss.

"That's not my problem" She scoffed. "And if you're too tall, how am I supposed to reach the pedals in your car?"

"ENOUGH!" Yelled Qrow. "You're both acting like kids! You two have been given an amazing opportunity, but that can very quickly be taken away if Ozpin thinks you can't work as a team. Plenty of other drivers would love to have the contract you have and would sign mid-season so they could race in the big leagues. Now both of you grow up, we'll settle this the easy way. I have the times from Monoma Valley here. The fastest lap time overall picks the car you both will drive."

Qrow pulled out his scroll and tapped it a few times in quick succession. "Here. Look." He said as he held out the device. On it read:

Prototype

Pyrrha Nikos – 1:21.348

Yang Xiao Long – 1:21.856

Lie Ren – 1:21.887

Weiss Schnee – 1:22.012

GT Sports

Ruby Rose – 1:36.761

Blake Belladonna – 1:37.587

Nora Valkyrie – 1:37.846

Juane Arc – 1:39.551

Yang pumped her fist "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!"

Weiss snorted, looking rather annoyed. "I do better with more time on the track and with time to play with different lines."

"Doesn't matter right now." Qrow said. "We'll prep Yang's car for practice and get a booster seat for Weiss. Flip a coin or something for who gets to drive first."

Ruby picked up her uncle's scroll to confirm that what she had seen was indeed correct, and to her surprise, she had put down the fastest GT time at Monoma Valley by eight hundredths of a second. Ruby briefly wondered if her uncle had padded her time before deciding that he probably wouldn't have, though she would have to ask him to be sure.

One of the engineers called out that the first round of practice was starting in five minutes from the door. Ruby looked up at her teammate and temporary co-driver, silently hoping the quiet girl would offer the first part of practice to her. Blake, without looking up from her book, said "If you want the first run, it's yours. I need to speak with Ozpin anyway."

"Thanks!" Ruby called out as she ran to the desk in the corner where the rest of her gear was. On went the rest of the fireproof suit followed by the radio earbuds and over her head slid the red helmet. Grabbing her gloves, Ruby walked over to her car, noting the number three painted on the door in a red box to signify that the car was in the GT class. Above the door had both names of the two drivers as well. Ruby climbed into the cockpit of the car and began to strap in. Half way through, her uncle wandered over and stuck his head in.

"Alright, welcome to the big leagues. Don't worry about lap times yet – at least, not anyone else's lap times. Work your car to how you want it, find your line, and most importantly, look out for cars around you. Most of them look like good drivers but if a Prototype gets impatient behind you they may pass at a very inconvenient time for you. You've shown that you have the skills, now go out there and learn the track. For the next three days it will be your home."

With that said, Qrow closed the door and Ruby fired her engine up, slowly driving out of the team's garage. Waiting to allow a green GT Sports car drive by on the access road, Ruby took a deep breath before pulling out on to the road and following the car out to the pit lane. A small crowd had come out to watch the first practice session of the season and were sitting up in the stands around the starter's box, as the first couple of cars began their out laps.

Ruby stepped on the gas crossing the pit exit line, but was right back on the brakes as the exit road turned sharply to the left, following turn one of the track, as well as the turn two esses. Only after turn two did the pit exit road meet up with the track on a short straight before turn three, a right hand U-turn called the International Horseshoe. A short straight lead to the quick and shallow left bend that was turn four and into a second right hand U-turn. Turn six was a sharp left hander that mirrored turn one, only a few hundred feet from where the track left the tri-oval. Back on the oval, Ruby floored the gas and began to ride turn seven around the thirty-one degree banked corner, going all the way up into sixth gear in the turn. A Prototype flew by on the outside as the banking fell away leading into the back straight. Just over half way down the back stretch came the breaking point for the bus stop chicane that made up turns eight through eleven, just before turn twelve that went back up into the thirty-one degree banking all the way around to the front straight and through the start/finish line at the tri-oval.

Ruby spent the better part of the next hour shaving time off her laps and getting used to Prototypes flashing their lights in her rear-view display before passing. Qrow was acting as her de facto crew chief and gave her updates on how well she had been improving from the start of the session. Fifty minutes into the two hour practice, Qrow's voice crackled over the radio.

"Pit this time, we're going to practice the driver change and let Blake have the last half of the session."

Ruby pulled out of the line coming out of twelve and began to slow down to the pit speed, driving carefully down the fast lane of the pits to about three quarters down to where the pit stall was. In her attempt to stop as quickly as possible, she missed her marks and pulled just a little too close to the pit wall and made the left side tire change somewhat difficult and awkward. As Ruby finished undoing her belts, the door opened and Blake helped Ruby out and climbed in herself. Ruby spun around and helped Blake strap in and was closing the door when the air jack dropped the car back to the asphalt. Two seconds later and the fueling was done and Blake peeled out and drove down the pit lane.

Ruby reached up to remove her helmet when Qrow shouted from the team box above her head. "Hold on squirt, we're gonna practice that pit stop with you and Blake a few times. She'll take an out lap and come in on the one after. You'll get in and do the same until you both have it down." She nodded in acknowledgement and joined the pit crew up on the wall and waited for Blake to return.

Blake nailed the stop on her third attempt and Ruby on the one after, so Qrow released Blake to run the rest of the practice session. Ruby climbed up into the crew box and sat next to her uncle to go over the time charts for her stint.

Qrow nodded and slid a laptop over to her. On it were the best lap times of every driver to run a lap so far today. As Ruby was looking at them, the top slot changed and bumped everyone else down a spot as Weiss snagged the fastest time from Yang by less than a tenth of a second. Ruby quickly scanned the prototype times before realizing that the Schnee cars had yet to put down a time, for either prototype or GT. _Odd._

"Why haven't the Schnee cars run yet?"

Qrow sighed, "Because it builds hype, and so other teams can't start strategizing against them. It's stupid, but they do it every year. Even when I was driving."

"I have to ask," Ruby said after a while. "Did you pad my lap times from Manoma Valley?"

Qrow laughed. "Not at all. I was just as surprised to see your name so far ahead. Don't get me wrong, I expected you to be at the top. But by almost a second? That's a huge gap for a time trial." He shifted in his chair so he was looking at Ruby. "If you'd believe in yourself, you could do all kinds of great things on that track."

* * *

The first practice ended with Sun Wukong taking the top spot in Prototype followed by Weiss, Pyrrha, Yang, and Coco. GT was lead by Reese Chloris followed by Scarlet David, Roman Torchwick, Blake, Nora, and Ruby. The second showed similar results, though Yang was faster than Weiss, While Blake and Ruby sat in 2nd and 3rd.

The third practice Team Schnee Racing joined the fray and Winter lead in Prototype followed by her teammate Cinder Fall, over Yang, Sun, Weiss, and Emerald Sustrai. GT was dominated by Penny Polendina, followed by Neo Politan, Gwen Darcy, Blake, and Ruby, who only got a few laps in before a transmission problem ended her stint. She joined Penny's teammate, Ciel Soleil, on the sidelines as she bounced off the wall coming off turn twelve.

Practice leaderboards were all over the place, but the only times that mattered were coming in the next session - Qualifying. And in a twenty-four hour race, that didn't matter all of that much either.

* * *

 **Volume 4 anyone? Holy shit… Anyway,**

 **Having a race without a test session preceding it wouldn't happen, nor would a driver's name be unknown until the first race. There are to test days before the Rolex 24 where all the drivers would become acquainted with each other and the lap times would be posted for all of the manufactures to brag about too. Neither would a team sit out on precious practice sessions just for hype. #plotthings**

 **Hang in there - Were almost to the first race. -OMOB**


End file.
